DARPA's Rapid Reaction Initiative

The Rapid Reaction Initiative Presentation at DarpaTech2005 discusses some very impressive products that have come out of the Rapid Reaction Initiative. The idea underlying the initiative is to contract, devise, test, and deploy product into a theater of conflict within 60-90 days.

A very interesting example given is the Boomerang. It senses gunfire and indicates to soldiers the direction of fire. This system was deployed in Iraq 66 days after the contract was signed. Other examples in the presentation are Gun Truck and Hard Wire.